Berry Smoothie with Probiotics, Antioxidants, and Collagen

I never jumped on the smoothie train. Generally, I don’t enjoy drinking my meals. But I recently discovered a veggie-packed berry smoothie and kept adding nutritional goodness to it and now I can’t get enough. My husband even loves it, and trust me – if my husband likes it, yours is likely to as well.

In addition to all the nutrition and antioxidants from the berries and kale, I add probiotics for gut health and collagen powder for skin, hair, and nails. I keep the sugar low by using a blend of two zero-calorie sweeteners, but you can swap according to your nutritional preferences. If you don’t avoid sugar, use regular sugar. If you prefer all-natural ingredients, use honey. I try to limit the glycemic impact so I use both erythritol and stevia. I don’t usually care for stevia (or any other sugar substitute), but this particular 2-to-1 blend is fantastic and doesn’t have any aftertaste.

I have one almost every day. It works great as a lunch, afternoon snack, quick dinner on baseball nights, or even a sweet dessert in the evening. And don’t worry if you don’t have one of those fancy blenders – I’m working with a 14-year-old standard blender and it works just fine.

Berry Smoothie with Probiotics, Antioxidants, and Collagen

Ingredients:

6 ice cubes
1.5 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 heaping cup frozen berries
2-3 cups loosely packed kale
2 Tb Probiotic Acidophilus
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream (don’t be afraid of adding fat; it makes your smoothie more filling and keeps your smoothie more cohesive – it won’t separate before you’re done with it!)
2 scoops Vital Proteins collagen peptides, unflavored {omit if making for your kids}
2 tsp erythritol (Swerve brand sweetener)
1 tsp Stevia